Counting your job search blessings

The holidays are the season when we traditionally pause to count our blessings -- provided we can find a moment between shopping, baking and socializing, that is.

Even without these activities, it can be difficult to set aside time for reflection. Some of us are putting in extra hours at work, while others are tending to increased family duties. There are just so many things demanding our attention.

For job seekers and those who have been struggling with finances, the exercise of counting one’s blessings may seem laced with irony. We’re nearing the end of what has been a difficult year for countless people. With unemployment stubbornly high, catastrophic housing markets trapping people in over-leveraged homes and disasters plaguing every corner of the Earth, despair is starting to seem like the logical way to greet each day.

Not so fast. If you’re in a job search, you simply can’t afford feelings of despair. Hopeless job seekers don’t find jobs for one simple reason: They stop trying. If you’re coming close to this place of self-fulfilling prophecy, it’s time to break the cycle. It’s time to start counting your job search blessings.

Of course, without having a job yet, you might assume you have no blessings to count. But you know that’s not true. There are many positive turns on the road to job search success; your challenge is to recognize them in real time so you can reap the psychic benefits of knowing you’ve been lucky.

Ready? Grab some paper and start noting:

• People who have helped you this year, including counselors, advisers, friends and family.

• Progress you've made, from completing your resume to targeting your job goal to building your network.

• People you've met, including interviewers and networking contacts.

• Things you've done with your time away from work, from helping a sick relative to volunteering in your community to taking a class.

• Things you've learned, whether they relate to your profession, job search processes or personal insights.

• Services you've used, even if you would have preferred not to: unemployment insurance, food shelves, low-fee health clinics, etc.

If these categories seem too saccharine for you, go ahead and honor your inner cynic. Look at your blessings from the negative side by making a list of ...

• Things you haven't lost, whether that's your home, your vehicle, your family or your friends. Don't forget your health and your sense of humor.

• People you're thankful not to be, because they've got it worse than you do.

• Things that haven't happened yet, that you feared would occur.

Whether positive or negative, add your own categories and keep writing until you can’t anymore.

Now that you have a list of your blessings, what’s the next step? To be honest, the concept of simply counting them seems a bit lame. Seriously, what would that lead to -- charting your progress and making a graph?

No, in just about any cultural or religious tradition, there’s really only one thing you can do with blessings: share them. One way to do that would be to review your lists to identify the people who have figured in these stories. For those who have been helpful, writing a short thank-you note would be a good way to “share the blessing.”

You can also send a holiday card to interviewers and networking contacts to thank them for their time this year. And of course, you have the option of “paying it forward” by finding others who need the help you have been grateful to receive during the course of your job search.

Another thing you can do is analyze the pattern of your blessings. Maybe you’ve received a lot more help than you realized, which might mean that you need to focus on your good fortune more frequently throughout the year, in order to keep your perspective in balance.

Or perhaps you weren’t able to add much to some categories, such as “things you’ve learned” or “progress you’ve made.” If that’s the case, you may already have a starting point for your New Year’s resolutions. The gaps in your lists might also indicate places to strengthen your job search processes.